


lay us down (we're in love)

by codesandhearts



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Pet Names, a sprinkle of found family feels, jason turns into a VERY verbal sap, sex with feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:48:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25021198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/codesandhearts/pseuds/codesandhearts
Summary: Jason accidentally ingests a truth spell. It gets ridiculous.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Jason Grace
Comments: 7
Kudos: 207





	lay us down (we're in love)

**Author's Note:**

> title from p!atd's the end of all things. 
> 
> happy belated birthday to everyone's fave demigod goober jason grace

Jason comes into Hades cabin, smiles and skips abound. Nico really can’t understand how he ended up with the personification of a sunshine golden retriever, but he allows a small smile he knows Jason will see even in the darkness of the cabin.

He steps into Nico’s personal space where he’s reading on his bed and wordlessly asks for permission. Three years of this. Nico doesn’t know how he’s survived. He nods quietly and Jason hooks a finger under Nico’s chin, drags him up for a soft kiss.

“Missed you,” Jason says.

Nico doesn’t answer back but they both know what he’d say. Of course he misses him, too, every time he leaves. Cabin 1 and 13 are empty, waiting for Jason. Nico's position as a counsellor makes him busy for most of the day, training kids and spending whatever days he has left running errands for his dad, visiting Hazel and Reyna. All in all, he shouldn't have time to miss Jason. But he does, always. 

“Who was it this time?” he asks instead, running his fingers through Jason’s hair. It’s always so soft, he doesn’t understand. what kind of Zeus-approved conditioner does he use?

“Veritas,” he answers. “Goddess of truth.”

“Was she nice?”

Jason has been Pontifex long enough into their relationship that questions of anger and justice never go down well, especially when Jason's only just returned. they save that for later, an allotted time for Jason to yell up at Zeus's statue in cabin one and ask why all these minor gods and goddesses are left astray, unappreciated, unworshipped, so Nico’s learned to ask about the gods themselves. Jason has a unique position to actually be friends with some of these gods, showing them kindness in ways they haven’t been shown before.

“Yeah,” Jason answers. he rummages through his pockets. “She gave me some food. And I’m kinda hungry.”

It’s a chocolate brownie, or so it seems, but Nico -as always- is wary. But it’s too late. “Jason, don’t-!”

Jason already has crumbs around his mouth. “What?”

“ _Stop_ putting strange things in your mouth!”

Jason’s eyes glaze over for a whole minute and Nico’s heart stops. In his hand, where the brownie was, is a note that merely says - _a day of truth, as a thank you_.

Well, shit.

i.

It starts almost instantly, and Nico wants to hide Jason in his cabin for twenty-four hours because this is ridiculous. It begins innocently enough, with random compliments to campers like (“Hey, I’ve always liked your haircut,” to Pollux, and “Remember when Connor was sick and soup would magically appear at his table every morning? Yeah that was me, I hope you liked it,” to the Stolls). but Percy comes along, bounding towards his bro. 

“Percy!” Jason says excitedly.

“Hey, dude!” Percy tries to match his enthusiasm, but doesn’t quite reach the high octave. He lends a stare to Nico. “Is he…alright?”

“He was dumb enough to ingest a truth spell. Thank Veritas for that.”

Percy gives a full-bodied laugh. “Oh, man that’s priceless!” he says. “Hey, Jace, tell Nico what we did for New Years when he was gone last year.”

“Me and Percy kissed.”

“ _What?_ ”

“He promised me not to tell. He said he was curious and Annabeth gave him permission.” Jason looks like he inhaled a bad smell, scrunching his nose. “It wasn’t very good.”

“Hey!”

"Too much tongue," Jason supplies. 

"You _tongued_ my boyfriend?" Nico almost screeches, though he hopes it's at a decibel that only dogs can hear, because the rest of camp does _not_ need to know this. 

Percy holds up his hands. "It's his fault he's so hot and has lips of an angel."

Nico ends up laughing with him, anyway. It's taken a while, to land into this companionship, made out of childhood bitterness and adolescent angst. Nico isn't in love with him anymore (he doesn't think he ever was, now that he has Jason) but he loves him, as a brother, as a friend, someone who can make fun of his fashion sense and someone he can push into the lake without fear of starting a world war.

A moment passes between them, in laughter, and Jason breaks it, saying, "Sometimes, I'm still mad at you." He's looking at Percy. 

"For what?" 

"For how you treated Nico." 

Percy looks older then, and Nico's been to Olympus, has seen the gods, and recognizes that face as one Poseidon wears. "Yeah, man, me, too." 

Wars behind them, and all of them are still just boys, incapable of letting go of past failures too much, carrying ghosts on their backs. "I've forgiven you,:" Nico says. 

"I know, dude," Percy says. "Come here." 

"Ugh, no." 

"Come here, little cousin." 

"Please don't call me your cousin because me and Jason are technically-" Nico wants to protest but Percy brings all three of them into a big hug, sighs of relief let out. Gods, they're weird. Their fathers have been warring for millennia but here they are sharing a big hug and Percy says he wants to take them on a Big Threesome date ("I'm going to woo the fuck out of you two." "You have a girlfriend, Percy, this is embarrassing.")

ii. 

As long as he's not with one person for too long, the truth spell isn't that bad. He reacts most to questions. If someone asks him how he's doing, he goes on a five-minute reply about how great the day is. If someone asks him what his favourite toppings of pizza are, he'll go mushroom and pepperoni and tell them it's one of the only things he remembers eating from his childhood with his mom and Thalia. Needless to say, it weirds people out. Jason is a good guy, a respected leader and always willing to help the campers, but guarded most of the time. He'll ask questions to everyone else, coax a ten year old out of homesickness, but he'll never bleed out his wounds on anyone else. Being raised feral, then Roman, it hasn't allowed Jason much of an opportunity for openness, always a sword and sharp teeth. Nico still hasn't figured out what made him special, why he's the person who gets to keep the secrets and hopes of Jason Grace between his ribs. 

"Hey, Sparky," a bright voice comes to them as they're eating lunch. Piper smiles at them, Leo in tow. Percy's probably told them and they both have matching shit-eating grins on. She leans forward to Jason. "Curious, when we were dating, I lost one of my hoodies. Did you steal it?"

"Yes," Jason says immediately. "It smelled like you." 

"Oh my god, you sap," Piper says, laughing. She turns to Nico, luminous. Nico's gay, he's gay as hell, loves some mad dick, but Piper is beautiful in ways that can't be quantified. Though the love that exists between him and Jason are nothing more than platonic, he'll sometimes look in the mirror and think, Jason chose him over Piper? Bright, beautiful Piper, who sits before him less as friend and more of family. "How do you handle this?"

Nico groans. "I _don't_. He's a menace to society." 

"Piper," Jason says seriously. Oh, here it comes. 

"Yeah, babe." 

He looks into her eyes. "I love and value our friendship," he says. Oh man, Nico can't be here. Piper's eyes are getting watery. Leo looks like he's about to have a breakdown. "I know my brain is loopy and you probably know that already but I love you and you terrify me. I'm sorry if I broke your heart, I always felt like I did." 

"Gods, Nico, you're right, he is a menace to society," Piper says, her voice thick. "I love you, too, idiot. And you didn't break my heart. It's in good hands. So is yours." 

Leo stands up to leave - can't deal with the raw emotion that's on Jason's face. Nico wonders, not for the first time, what the point of this truth spell is. To lay Jason Grace bare, expose his nerves, get down to the core of him? If it is, then this is it. This is who Jason is at the very heart of him, someone who loves and loves and loves, though, never sure of how to make it spill without ruining any facades that keep him alive. Here, like this, he seems like a child and Nico's reminded again of how Jason didn't really get to be one. 

"You are my absolute best friend," Jason says to Leo. 

"You didn't need a truth spell to say that, bud," Leo says. 

"No." Jason says and some part of him, the one they see every day, his shoulders straight again, that comes out. "But I still want you to know. When I thought you died...I would've traveled to Hell for you."

"Man, you need to shut up."

iii. 

The spell wears off slowly. There aren't any more crying incidents and Nico makes Jason stay in his cabin when he has to teach sparring after lunch. It runs over and he decides to get dinner for him and Jason to eat in the cabin. He sacrifices some food for his dad and, more recently as of late, for Zeus. He finds Jason hunched over their bed. Though, it's not really a bed, it's just a king-size mattress they stole and put on the floor, blankets all over the place until Jason cleans them with his praetor sensibilities. They always talk about getting a proper bed, a proper place, even, a real apartment not too far from camp but both of them have only just settled into the routine of being at home, here, that they always decide to stay a little longer. They're still teenagers, after all, still needed at camp. 

"Jason? Got you some food," Nico says and puts it on the tray they have for dinners inside the cabin. Something blooms in his chest, travels down his arms, at the sight of so many signs of a shared life. The tray, the bed, the hoodies they trade, the lingering smell of sandalwood and lavender. 

Nico allows a small smile, but notices Jason's not replied. 

"Jason?"

"The, uh, truth spell," Jason says, his voice is wet. "It doesn't just make me confess things, makes me confront them. A day of truth, she said, even the truths I didn't want to face."

Nico can't move quick enough. He sits down, so he has to look up at Jason. He doesn't cry, never really does, which just calls back to his soldier mentality. When he does, it's like the ground shifts, earth moves and Nico would travel to Tartarus and back to make him smile again. He doesn't tell Jason this, he's not good with words, never was. Jason was the one who confessed, after months of dancing around each other, quick touches that burned him. So brave, even without a truth spell. Maybe Nico's the one who should've eaten the damn brownie. 

"Talk to me." Nico takes Jason's hands in his. They're clammy, hot, but still Jason. He'll never tire of this, the soft touch of him. 

Were it not for the spell, Nico knows how this conversation would play out. Jason would look at him, blue eyes against brown, and tell him everything is fine, though his eyebrows will crease and his lips will purse together. He would lay Nico down on the bed, nose against his neck, and wait it out. He will tell him everything else, anything except for what really bothers him, until it comes out in an intense sparring session, another breakdown in tears where Nico will rub his back, coaxing tears and confessions out of him. But here, Jason is soft, fragile, his blonde hair is a bit longer now, tufts of it standing up. 

"I'm happy I have a home," Jason finally relents. 

"You wouldn't be crying if you were just happy, dumbass." Nico presses his lips against Jason's knuckles. 

"Because I didn't always have one. And I know it sucks, to still be thinking about it. My mom's rage and depression, being abandoned, Thalia, the last real family I knew, going to be with the Hunters, and being raised to kill. Not knowing where I belonged, Camp Jupiter or Camp Half-Blood, Jupiter or Zeus, praetor or counselor. Everywhere I went, I was being torn apart and I never...I didn't know who I was, what belonged to me, with me. And I'd just be filled with rage, and just- _anger_."

"Do you still feel that?" Nico asks. 

"Less," Jason says. "A lot less."

Silence passes between them, a friend. 

"How are you feeling? How's the spell? Wearing off yet?" Nico asks. 

"Maybe. I dunno," Jason says. He shivers. "Earlier in the day, it felt like a weight, like I had to tell people. But now it just feels good, feels tingly." 

Jason Grace, Son of Jupiter, slayer of giants, honest to gods, _blushes_. 

Nico struggles not to beam. Gods, this guy. "What's got you all red?"

"I told Leo and Piper I love them, Percy and Annabeth, I even told the _Stolls_ , gods, Connor couldn't stop laughing. I even wrote a letter to Thalia. Oh, but, baby, _baby_ ," oh, that's new, "I didn't tell you." 

Everything in Nico's heart opens. His cheeks are warm, he knows, the hairs on the back of his neck stand, his entire body leans towards Jason, chasing him, chasing him. "And why's that?" 

"You already know." Jason's lips are plump, soft, open a little and Nico wants to taste. He can never resist Jason so close like this, so happy like this, because of Nico. 

Brave on it, Nico says, "Could stand to hear it more." 

Hands are in Nico's hair, fingers scraping against his scalp, it's good, so good, Jason knows how to make him open. "Sweetheart," Jason says, and it is coloured with shades of longing, of wanting. For the first time in the day, Jason seems unsure, almost afraid of the truth. "Do you...belong with me?"

And Nico knows what he's really asking - _am i home to you, like you are to me? is there a piece of your soul that mirrors mine? am i in your bones? are you mine?_ Nico's got a possessive streak a mile long, how could he not? Jason, with his half-lidded eyes now and broad shoulders and bleeding heart. But this guy, something in him is lit on fire just by the virtue of Nico coming home to him, he needs no other reminders. 

"Yeah," Nico whispers, already wrecked. " _Yes_." 

"I belong with you." _I'm yours, I'm yours, there is nothing in me you haven't touched_. 

When Nico kisses him, finally, Jason feels drunk, responds like he does when he's got a few in him, or when he's coming off a battle, adrenaline seeping through him, making him soft, pliant. Eager and sloppy, lush, slow kisses where he licks into Nico's mouth, tasting him. His body is hot, hands warm as they travel down Nico's neck, arms, back. _Gods_. Nico doesn't even have to do much, just presses into him giving him what he's desperate for and Jason moans. 

"Are you mine?" Jason keeps asking. "Gods, I can't believe -the luckiest guy in the world, jeez, I wanna make you mine, lay you down and make you _mine_. Can I? Oh, _baby_ , can I?"

And Jason never runs his mouth like this. Ever. Nico knows when the spell dries up, Jason will blush remembering this but, man, once in a lifetime. 

"Yeah, go ahead, you brute," but he's laughing when Jason's big hands lay him down on the mattress.

They stop kissing long enough to tug their shirts off and Jason is red, red, all over, flushing with it, already desperate. When he gets like this, he'll say he wants it slow, wants it to last, but Nico knows him, by gods, does he know Jason. He'll stare at Nico, want to kiss his eyelids, and doesn't last very long. No, he's coming before Nico can fuck him, he's coming like the sheer proximity of their bodies is better. He can come untouched like this, Nico knows. He can, but Nico's not in that mood today. 

"So this is what really goes through your mind every time we have sex, huh?" Nico goads. "Waxing poetic. Wanting to call me sweetheart and baby. Jeez, you romantic sap." 

Jason's clothed cock rubs against his. "Nico..." And that's it, that's the voice. Sex-soaked, eager, and just for him. Nico has to move away, and Jason _whimpers_. 

"Just taking our pants off," he shushes, soft, sweet. "You have me, I'm right here."

The sound out of Jason's mouth sounds like a sob, and Nico's heart wrenches. There is nothing in this world, nothing at all, he wouldn't give him. 

Nico knows this isn't the night for condoms and lube, no, Jason is already aching, hard cock against his stomach and his moans are getting desperate. So Nico blankets him, his hand around both of their cocks, and pushes. 

"You're insufferable," Nico says, "stubborn, and too fucking gorgeous for your own good."

"Mean," Jason says, barely able to. His mouth is open and Nico could easily fit a few fingers in there, but he doesn't want to, wants to kiss it instead. Jason makes him sweet. His hand comes up to touch Nico's jaw. He touches him like Nico is more holy than anything Jason's ever seen and it makes him weak. 

"There's no good reason - _oh_ \- no good reason I should love you more than anything in this world." 

"Nico-"

"No good reason you should undo me like this."

Jason's definitely crying now, and Nico's not too far behind. He smells Jason, the heady scent of him. "Oh, but you're so good. So good." Nico wants to bet not a lot of people have told him that in his lifetime, always just brave, strong, wild. But he is, he makes Nico's heart ache thinking about it. On some days, he could cry, knowing how capable of love Jason is, how Jason saved him, how Nico saved him right back. 

"You don't have to make me yours. I already am. I always will be." He wonders if there is still traces of chocolate-covered truth in Jason's mouth, because he feels like he could die, if he doesn't get this out. He doesn't know if it's magic, or if it's Jason, or the way their bodies move together. "Come." 

He does, and Nico follows. Nico always follows him. 

Jason speaks again after they've regained their breaths. There is no Veritas in his voice, the dopey, drunkenness has simmered away, but it's no less beautiful. There Jason Grace is again, nineteen years old, powerful and strong and loving and _good_. "I love you."

There is no other truth. 

A week later, they have lunch with their friends, their family. Nico leans in and says, "baby," just to see Jason go red. 

**Author's Note:**

> i am #confirmed jasico trash i already have a bunch more fic ideas


End file.
